


Harley Learns About Fanfiction

by Jos_lynn



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb)
Genre: Fanfiction, Harley Keener & Peter Parker Friendship, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:35:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24425134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jos_lynn/pseuds/Jos_lynn
Summary: Harley doesn't understand why people read fanfiction.
Relationships: Harley Keener & Peter Parker
Comments: 8
Kudos: 29





	Harley Learns About Fanfiction

**Author's Note:**

  * For [musicluvr1O](https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicluvr1O/gifts).



> Happy Birthday Musicluvr1O! I hope you enjoy!

Harley sat in his bed wide awake, but he found himself unable to fall asleep despite the fact that it was 4:37 in the morning and he's been tossing and turning since midnight. He could hear his mother and sister's snores through their thin walls, so talking to either one of them was out of the picture. Instead he pulled out his phone and texted Peter. 

"Hey darlin'. I know you probably aren't going to be awake, but I figured I'd try." He messaged the boy before deciding to explain himself a bit so that he wouldn't worry if he saw it in the morning. "I just can't seem to fall asleep."

He started to scroll through Instagram as he waited, but it only took Peter a few minutes to respond which surprised him. When they had talked earlier the younger boy claimed to be extremely tired and that he was going to go to bed early. It seemed that that didn't work out how he planned. "Hey Harls I'm awake. You wanna talk about whatevers on your mind?" 

"Just couldn't sleep so I figured I'd text you on the off chance that you were awake." Harley explained as he thought about what Peter asked and the post that he just saw on Instagram. "I saw this post that said something about if you're up at 4 am then you're either in love or lonely. I've come to the conclusion that I'm lonely and sad." 

He didn't lie when he claimed to be lonely, but the real reason he's awake is that he couldn't stop thinking about Peter. "Oh harley, I'm sorry but I'm here now so you don't have to be lonely."

"Why are you up? In love or lonely?" He waited for Peter's answer nervously, but he wasn't sure what he wanted to hear. On one hand if it's in love that could mean him or could be about someone better than him, but lonely could mean absolutely anything.

This time it took Peter closer to ten minutes to answer, but when he did Harley was caught off guard. "Um. Reading.. gay fanfiction?"

"Peter, I've decided I'm no longer lonely. I'll come back to that when I can think straight." Harley rolled over leaving his phone next to him and questioned everything he knew about the other boy. In his experience the only people who he knows that have read fan fiction were weird and he never wanted to interact with them, but this was Peter. The boy he loved that was one of the best people he has ever met.

His phone vibrated as Peter sent him another message which made Harley laugh out loud as he read it. "Hey man I'm obviously not thinking too straight at the moment either.." He shook his head before closing his eyes to hopefully fall asleep, deciding to answer him when he got up. 

The next day after Harley finally got out of bed nearing two o'clock in the afternoon he texted Peter again. "I'm back and I think I'm ready to try to understand."

"Hold on are you telling me you don't read gay fanfiction at 4 in the morning?" Harley laughed at how quickly he texted him back. 

However he didn't understand what he meant. Was that something that Peter did often? "No! Why in the hell would I do that?"

"I don't know? Any normal teenager does." He refused to believe that this was something most people his age did. He didn't see the point in reading about other people or character's lives like that. It was just weird.

"Who were you even reading about?" He asked, expecting to hear about some characters from a book or movie that he recently saw. He knew that he recently reread the Percy Jackson books and all he talked about for the last week was Nico, so it wouldn't surprise him if he was reading about him.

"Did you know people actually write fanfiction about me?" 

"You stayed up until 4 in the morning reading fanfiction about yourself as Spider-man? With who?" Harley shouldn't be surprised by this, but he found it shocking that people actually wrote fanfiction about a superhero with a secret identity.

"6 o'clock… but there is a surprising amount of people who ship me with Johnny." Harley gagged at the thought of Johnny and Peter together for more reasons than one.

"Johnny Storm? You're way too young for him." Peter was a minor while Johnny was almost twenty-six which was almost a ten year age difference between them. Plus the two of them together would destroy the world before they saved it.

"Yeah but they don't know that. They also ship me with Matt, Wade, and Mr. Stark. However I avoid the ones with Tony no matter what." Harley shuddered at the thought of Tony and Peter in a relationship, that was a thought he wished never entered his mind.

"What even happens in them?" He asked, slightly curious on how people write about someone they know nothing about.

"Hold on I'll send you my favorite one, it's me and Matt with Wade popping in sometimes." The message came with a link to a website called 'Archive of Our Own' and the fanfiction already pulled up for him.

"Peter I'm not reading something called "Heroes by Chance Lovers by Choice"" Harley texted back not excited to read about the guy he liked with another man in an extremely illegal relationship. 

"Please Harley! You won't regret it, I promise." He sighed and started to read knowing he would do anything to make him happy and also kind of wanting to know how he was going to be written. 

Almost two hours later Harley was finally finished reading with tear tracks leading down his face. It didn't even feel like he was reading about anyone he knew because they were written so wrong, but it didn't stop him from getting attached to the characters. The ending made him cry, which was unexpected, but he found himself wanting to read more despite everything.

He texted Peter back knowing that he was probably waiting for Harley's answer all day. He was almost ashamed of how much he enjoyed the story and how he knew he would definitely be reading more tonight. "I understand now."


End file.
